Song titles

Hi Rick,

I would say that all songs we have written over the years come from personal experience in one way or another. Sometimes in a more loose sense, sometimes through very personal experiences, sometimes through second hand experiences, sometimes by describing and amplifying a universal feeling or thought by putting it in fictitious storyform etc.

To talk about Sweet Lorraine in particular – sure, we’ve not been involved in a bloody murder love triangle but I think we can all relate to making stupid decisions because of “love” or witnessing others wreaking havoc in the name of it, haha.

The beauty of art and storytelling is that there are no rules. You can say what you want to say in whatever way suits the song. Blunt or poetic, real or fictitious, honest or satirical … to be able to express ourselves and share things we feel are interesting, or beneficial to be shared, is ultimately why we chose to pursue music and songwriting. It’s the most magical form of storytelling 🙂

Hi Lisa

This is an interesting topic and question, how personal experiences can inspire a song. With the Beatles reportedly there were many songs inspired by the many girl friends and wives of the Beatles. The most well known were the many songs Paul wrote as a result of his turbulent relationship with Jane Asher. “Asher served as a muse for McCartney, with their somewhat turbulent relationship becoming inspiration for such songs as “We Can Work It Out,” “All My Loving,” “And I Love Her,” “Here There and Everywhere” and “You Won’t See Me.”

In your owns songs, one example that obviously comes from first hand personal experience is “All I Want Christmas To Be”, the feelings of the Christmas spirit you express is so rich and vivid, song writing so powerful. The same for The Wide, Wide, Land and a number of your other originals I presume from real life experience. In the case of “Sweet Lorraine”, it doesn’t have to be real life experience for a song to be great. The magic of your song writing indeed.

So much of the power of MLT’s original music comes from their masterful story telling. Many of their song lyrics are great poetry all by themselves, and so many show a maturity and wisdom way beyond their tender years. They are also incredibly creative and imaginative. When you add tremendous musical composition, harmony and flawless performance you have the phenomenal musical experiences we have come to know and love. Lisa, the last paragraph you wrote in response to this inquiry shows just how intelligent and capable you are of conveying your insight about life.

I really appreciate Rick’s question and Lisa’s response. I grew up in the 80s music scene in Scotland, but the 80s were magical years for music. One artist that really impressed me was Morrissey in The Smiths and this relates to both Rick’s question and Lisa’s response. In his Solo career, Morrissey said that all the Smiths songs were like an open diary of his own personal experiences. Morrissey only wrote about himself and this connection passed to fans. In those days I wondered, how could Morrissey be singing straight to me as he doesn’t know me. Of course he wasn’t, but his lyrics resonated very much with my own personal experiences at the time. The Smiths very vastly under-rated at the time and written off as depressing music, but their bursting onto the market killed many other bands inclusing Bryan Ferry’s Roxy music and Sting’s Police. Of course, at 60, Morrissey is still creating new albums and performing but I suspect that he will gracefully stop soon.